A Roman Catholic priest from Illinois was jailed Thursday after police said he cut a hole in a fence at a Weld County missile silo and trespassed as a way to protest nuclear arms. It is now his third such arrest in Weld County.

Weld sheriff's office deputies responded at 8:50 a.m. Thursday to a Minuteman III missile silo between Weld County roads 86 and 88 along Weld County Road 113, about 40 miles northeast of Greeley, on report of a man trespassing.

There, they found a 75-year-old Carl Kabat, dressed in a clown suit atop his clerical garb, being detained by Air Force guards, who found him inside the perimeter of the fence. It was his second time at that particular missile silo since 2004, and his third such arrest. He had trespassed at another Weld silo in 2000.

When our forces arrived, he was inside on the grounds and he was very peaceful, said Master Sgt. Dale Yates, a spokesman at Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne.

The silo is one of 150 missile silos in Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska patrolled by security teams from Warren. Each of the silos have sensors that alert the base to someone's presence.

Warren authorities said they had been alerted to the potential breach after an article ran in the Monday edition of the St. Louis Dispatch saying Kabat planned to attack the silo and cap off 25 years of nuclear protests.

This particular silo has been a magnet for peace activists, and will likely continue, as it is one of the more visible, being just off Colo. 14 in northern Weld County. The priest, protesting nuclear arms, was arrested for breaking into the silo in 2000, and served about six months in jail for a second break-in in 2004, said Bill Sulzman, a friend and fellow peace activist. It is the same site where three nuns protested with their own blood seven years ago.

In a statement released to the Dispatch on Thursday, Kabat wrote that he was doing his part to help President Barack Obama in nuclear disarmament.

Yates said it was the security team's duty to stop Kabat from trespassing on federal property.

From what we understand, he is protesting America's storage of nuclear weapons, and as with any American in this country, they have all rights to protest, but when they violate federal law by entering a secure federal facility, then they're subject to arrest, Yates said.

Kabat was arrested on suspicion of criminal trespassing and criminal mischief. He was booked into Weld County Jail on Thursday afternoon.

Sulzman said if the nuns' cases serve as any example, Kabat's state charges will be bumped up to the federal level, meaning he could serve time in federal prison.

The same silo became the vehicle for prison sentences for Dominican nuns Ardeth Platte, 68, Jackie Hudson, 70, and Carol Gilbert, 57. They, too, cut a hole in the fence, then painted crosses on the concrete doors of the silo with their blood in October 2002. They were convicted in July 2003 of willful injury, interference or obstruction of national defense and one count of causing more than $1,000 property damage. All got out of federal prison at various times in 2005.

Kabat told the Dispatch that he expected anywhere from 15 months to 18 years in prison based on his past experience. According to the Dispatch, Kabat served less than 10 years in prison for taking a jackhammer to a silo in 1984, and he was given a 15-month sentence in 2006 for attacking a silo in North Dakota.

Priest's statement

Through friend Bill Sulzman, Kabat released a statement to the press Thursday morning:

The Roman Catholic Church, of which I am a priest, at the close of its Vatican Council II in 1965, condemned nuclear bombs as a crime against humanity and are to be condemned unreservedly.

The World Council of Churches has proclaimed that the manufacture, deployment or use of nuclear bombs is a crime against humanity.'

I support President Barack Obama's desire and have attempted to do my little bit in his effort.

The nuclear bomb that is in the ground here is more than 20 times more powerful that the atomic bombs we dropped on the Japanese. Each of those bombs killed more than 100,000 people. At lest 20 times that number totals more than 2 million people.

The Bible says in the words of Isaiah, They shall beat their spears into pruning hooks and their swords into plowshares.'

A few years ago a greenpeace tug followed an Ohio Class SSBN out to the ocean. Despite the warnings, the protesters made it onto the sub in open water via a small inflatable boat. IIRC, the Captain of the boat was releaved of command since not because he allowed them on the boat, but because he DIDNT shoot them.

I have guarded a fast attack submarine in Norfolk. I drew my gun four times but never had to shoot. It is a hard thing to shoot a Priest but I think I might have shot him if he did not stop on his approach of the sub. I drew on one petty officer, one officer, two rednecks in a john boat and two Italians in a 15 foot boat. All listened to my orders looking at a loaded (round in the chamber) 45.

I’ve been on the receiving end of that after a O6 kicked a safe with codes for nukes. After running around 3 stories under ground with grenade launchers they called the all-clear and failed to notify the folks upstairs.

16
posted on 08/07/2009 6:55:21 AM PDT
by driftdiver
(I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)

A Roman Catholic priest from Illinois was jailed Thursday after police said he cut a hole in a fence at a Weld County missile silo and trespassed as a way to protest nuclear arms. It is now his third such arrest in Weld County....

There [a Minuteman III missile silo between Weld County roads 86 and 88 along Weld County Road 113, about 40 miles northeast of Greeley], they found a 75-year-old Carl Kabat, dressed in a clown suit atop his clerical garb, being detained by Air Force guards, who found him inside the perimeter of the fence. It was his second time at that particular missile silo since 2004, and his third such arrest. He had trespassed at another Weld silo in 2000.

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